Iraqi Army 5th Corps Surrenders at Mosul

AP via Fox News ^ | 04/11/03 | N/A

[TigerLikesRooster]

CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar

[TigerLikesRooster]

FYI

[goldstategop]

Tikrit is the last part of Iraq still to be liberated.

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[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #2

Yeah. That is where their Fuehrer Bunker is.

[Centurion2000]

Correct me if I'm wrong but has a Corps level army formation ever surrendered to such a much smaller group ??

This seems akin to Sgt Yorks exploits when he captured several dozen Germans by himself.

[tomkat]

your story, for some reason, made me picture von Rundsted motoring up to the Bulge,
screeching to a stop, and hollering:   yo ! we quit !

so it's not the best analogy - so sue me ...

[xm177e2]

Tikrit might be the hardest city of all... which isn't really saying much. If we don't have support from the civilians there (and we might not, because they're Saddam's clan) it could take longer. But we've got time. We have everything else.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #5

Well, "Shock and Awe" has worked.:)

[goldstategop]

Tikrit is easier than Baghdad. I think ABC's Tony Cordesman said the other day its all surrounded by desert apart from the Tigris on its other bank. No real defenses to speak of. Its a strange place for Saddam & sons to make a Last Stand.

[metesky]

Well, Uncle Don asked them nicely to surrender just yesterday.
;O)

[ConservativeMan55]

They said on Fox and Friends that their commanders had abandoned them, and they didn't know what else to do.
They could either surrender or be blown into a million little pieces!

[Rebelbase]

"Yeah. That is where their Fuehrer Bunker is."

Not for long!

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

12 years ago, in GW-I, a friend of mine had a brother there who was a Medivac helicopter pilot. One day during the ground action one of the officers, a Lt Col, I believe, had my friend's brother take him up for a look around. As they flew over the Kuwaiti desert they came on a group of a couple hundred Iraqi soldiers who waved white flags at them and surrendered. There only weapon was he Col's side arm. They called for troops to come and get the surrendering Iraqis.

[AnAmericanMother]

In WWII, my dad (all of a 1st lieutenant) and a small group of his platoon in two jeeps took the surrender of an Italian Army colonel and his regiment.

They had to wait outside while the colonel shaved and put on a fresh uniform to surrender in. They had a glass of wine while they waited.

It was all in good humor, and they treated the colonel and his men with courtesy. Dad said he was happy that nobody got shot! ("That's the way to fight a war," quoth he.) :-D

[Diddle E. Squat]

Nope. Al Qa'im is still in a stiff battle, and may hold the crown jewels of smoking guns.

[demnomo]

Last night on CNN (about 10:30PM PST) I saw the most amazing live footage of thousands of former Iraqi soldiers, mostly on foot--some even barefoot--walking down a highway south towards Baghdad.

A CNN crew stopped a few and asked them some questions. These Iraqi men had nothing to their names. No ID, (there commanders ran off with their ID cards) no water, no food and no money. They were mostly Shi'ites from the south who had been conscripted or forced into the army up north. They appeared to be happy (at least for now) that they were free of Saddam, army life and were heading home. Some said that it would take them about 7 days of walking to reach their cities or villages.

It was amazing. All of them appeared to be unarmed. Some Iraqis were praising Bush and the American troops. (Much to the dismay of the CNN crew, I'll wager.) Some were afraid to say too much because they were still fearful of the Ba'athists.

One Iraqi said that his commanders had fled along with the Fedayeen death squads, so he and his fellow soldiers turned on a smuggled radio tuned into the BBC. That's when they realized that Baghdad had fallen, Saddam's regime was (hopefully) fallen, Mosul had surrendered and they decided to head for home.

I wish and pray that these men get some water or food on their long, hard journey. They didn't appear to be terrorist types or antagonistic towards Americans, etc. A few small acts of kindness on the Coalition's part (with safety measures in place for any would-be martyrs among them) like water, food, and medical attention to a few who looked wounded would go along way in giving these men some hope for the future. I know that the Coalition has a lot on its plate, however, these young men are the future of Iraq.

[Dixiekraut]

I saw the Cordesman comment you cite on ABC...it was great.He said "as a place to die,Tikrit is as good as any.As a place to defend,it is the worst."Too many roads to defend-too many points of entry to launch attacks.

If Saddam has any WMD ...this may be where we see them. Tikrit is the sh*thole Saddam crawled out of years ago...and it's where he'll crawl back down before we seal up the hole.

[exDem from Miami]

We got MOAB.

[Man of the Right]

Thanks Iraqi V Corps. You saved us expending a few JDAMs.